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Contrary to what some might think after his loss against Amir Khan last Saturday at the Mandalay Bay arena, Marcos “El Chino” Maidana walks happy and proud of himself around the streets of Las Vegas. Everybody recognizes him and congratulates for his tremendous performance, which fell a few punches short to end in what it could have been a historical knock-out win in the tenth round.

“Since we didn’t have to depart on Sunday as usual, this is the first time I have some time to spend with my team in Las Vegas after a fight. It’s quite an impressive city,” Maidana said.

In a highly anticipated encounter, Khan and Maidana gave an incredible effort which well might end up being the fight of the year according to boxing experts.

“It was a hell of a fight. He (Amir) is a great, skillful and fast boxer. And he proved that he can take a punch. He is a great champion,” Maidana said. (more…)

VERSUS will air a historic night of World Extreme Cagefighting® action on Thursday, December 16, at 9 p.m. ET, live from Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Ariz. The night includes a lightweight battle as champion Ben Henderson defends his title against Anthony Pettis followed by the highly-anticipated match between bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and Scott Jorgensen. The network will once again air extended coverage with two live shows, hosted by Molly Qerim and MMA writer Ariel Helwani, before and after the fight action, beginning at 8 p.m. ET. (more…)

When Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins faces WBC/IBO Light Heavyweight Champion Jean Pascal on December 18 at the Pepsi Coliseum in Quebec City, Canada live on SHOWTIME® in the U.S. and on pay-per-view in Canada, he will be 28 days shy of his forty-sixth birthday. If Hopkins defeats Pascal, he will become the oldest fighter in the history of the sport to win a significant world title, 38 days older than “Big” George Foreman was when he defeated Michael Moorer for the Heavyweight World title on November 5, 1994. (more…)

Former three-time world title challenger Fulgencio Zuniga (24-4-1, 21 KOs), of Colombia, has secured himself another title shot, this time against IBF light heavyweight champion Tavoris “Thunder” Cloud (24-0, 18 KOs) this Friday at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. Cloud will be making the second defense of the title he won by unanimous decision over Clinton Woods on August 28, 2009. He successfully defended the title with a unanimous decision over formidable challenger and former champion, Glen Johnson, last August 8 in St. Louis. Zuniga is ranked in the IBF’s top-15 at super middleweight. (more…)

By Kurt Wolfheimer at ringside
Photography by Marty Rosengarten/Ringsidephotos.com

Tomaz “Goral” Adamek (43-1, 28 KOs) put together one of his best performances as a heavyweight with a one-sided fifth round stoppage over the always tough Vinny Maddalone (33-7, 24 KOs) to retain his IBF International and NABO title belts on Thursday night at the Prudential Center in Newark New Jersey . . . Click here for more

The three-time world champion Erik “Terrible” Morales is in the final stage of training for his next fight against former world champion Jorge “La Hiena” Barrios in the Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico on Saturday. “We just had a great workout we’re just waiting for the day. It was already the toughest work in the Otomi. It will be a hard fight and complicated because Barrios is strong. But, I’m happy and confident that I’ll leave the ring with raised hands,” said Morales. “We’re doing everything we can to make the fight with [Juan Manuel] Marquez in 2011 and other projects with Golden Boy Promotions, with whom we would like to make a great partnership and we’re looking for things that benefit both parties.”

With a handful of Aztec warriors chasing four titles in as many divisions in a quest to be the Mexican born boxer to earn the honor, one that has more than a fighting chance is Erik “Terrible” Morales. After failing to capture the WBC lightweight title against David Diaz back in ’07, Morales took a two-and-a-half year hiatus only to announce his comeback earlier this year. Morales defeated former lightweight champion Jose Alfaro via a twelve round unanimous decision to capture the WBC International welterweight title and then proceeded to earn the WBC Silver light welterweight title last August by stopping WIllie Limond of Scotland in six rounds. Now, the thirty-four year old Morales (50-6, 35 KOs) of Tijuana, MX’s famed Zona Norte takes on his toughest test to date on his return when he takes on former WBO super featherweight champion Jorge Rodrigo “Hyena” Barrios (50-4-1, 35 KOs) of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Morales will defend his WBC Silver strap in the scheduled twelve round affair held in his hometown of Tijuana at the Caliente Stadium in the heart of the city on Saturday, December 18th. (more…)

Cebu City, Philippines based Filipino Milan Melindo (23-0, 7 KOs) is coming off a career best win. In his last fight on November 27th, Melindo defeated former world champion Carlos Tamara. Not only did Melindo beat a young and primed former world champion, he did it convincingly. The win was just another feather in the cap of Melindo as he just continues to beat solid competition. He is promoted by the Philippines’s top promoter ALA Boxing promotions who have matched Melindo very tough. The way Milan has performed each fight you can certainly see why. Melindo’s style is not that of flash or big knockouts, but of consistency. Just very fundamentally and technically sound offensively and defensively. Amazingly, he’s been equally effective at 105, 108, and 112. Fightnews spoke with Melindo recently about his last wins and his future. (more…)

Promoter Mike Leanardi has his show just about ready for take-off for this Friday evening at the Hammond Civic Center in Hammond Indiana. Former world champion Steve “2 Pound” Forbes (34-8) fighting out of Las Vegas Nevada will be in the main event versus trial horse Roberto Valenzuela of Mexico. Valenzuela (55-55-2) replaces planned opponent Emmanuel Augustus who ended up not accepting the offer to fight Forbes. (more…)

Branco Milenkovic of Branco Sports Productions has announced that the twice postponed IBF mini flyweight title fight between Nkosinathi Joyi and Katsunari Takayama will now take place on Saturday January 29 at the Carnival Casino near Brakpan. Joyi (21-0, 15 KOs) possibly the best boxer pound-for-pound in South Africa makes the first defense of his belt that he won in March this year when he outpointed Raul Garcia. Takayama (24-4, 10 KOs) from Japan is the mandatory challenger and will be give the champion his toughest test to date.

Milenkovic has also produced an outstanding undercard with former six time “world” champion Cassius Baloyi (37-5-1, 19 KOs) getting another chance at glory despite his bad loss to Mzonke Fana in his last fight, when he meets Argenis Mendez (17-1, 9 KOs) from the Dominican Republic who now fights out of New York in an IBF junior lightweight title eliminator. (more…)

When a promoter starts ranting and raving about the next great fighter, most of us in the fight game find it hard not to start rolling our eyes.

“Remember Tye Fields?” we’ll rib one another, reliving the hopeless hype of 2008 when Bob Arum did his best to convince the press that Fields was going to be the next great heavyweight champion . . . Click here for more

In a year hat has seen a boxing renaissance for “America’s Finest City” with a fight card presented almost once a month in San Diego, CA, Jorge Marron Productions with Don Chargin Promotions in association with Golden Boy Promotions presents “Path to Glory” on Friday, December 17th and broadcasts live by Telefutura’s “Solo Boxeo Tecate”. In the eight round main event, Chula Vista, CA’s own Christopher Martin (20-0-2, 6 KOs) closes out the year against late sub Yogli Herrera (22-13, 15 KOs). (more…)

Dominican prospect Melvin Betancourt (20-0, 17 KOs), a young man with growing popularity in the island nation, will be tested for the first time when he meets up with seasoned David Toribio (17-12, 10 KOs) for the vacant 154 lbs Dominican title on December 19th in Villa Gonzalez, Dominican Republic. The numbers would seem to favor the 22-year-old Betancourt who has 11 KOs in the first round, however this just might be a case where records are very misleading. (more…)

In a poor fight attended by one of the smallest crowds in recent years, William Gare retained his Word Boxing Federation super middleweight belt when he scored a unanimous 12 round points decision over Roland Francis at the Wembley Indoor Arena south of Johannesburg on Saturday night. The 35-year-old Gare (26-14-1, 4 KOs) who was making his fourth defence was just too experienced and ring-wise for the 38-year-old Francis (24-12-5, 14 KOs) who was having his third fight in the last eight years. Gare was in control throughout in a fight that never rose to any heights and referee Eddie Marshall had an easy nights work. The judges scored it 117-111, 116-112 and 118-110 all in favour of the champion. The tournament was presented jointly by promoters Mxolisi Gumede and Reggie Hilman.

SHOWTIME’s eagerly anticipated two-stage, single-elimination “Winner Take All” bantamweight tournament kicked off Saturday night at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. When all the dust had settled, Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko had regained the IBF world championship and moved on to the final to face Abner Mares who gallantly fought all twelve rounds covered in blood from a nasty gash. (more…)

On Friday, middleweight Angel “Toro” Hernandez (30-8, 17 KOs) will get another shot at an IBO title, this time in front of his hometown Windy City crowd. Hernandez, coming off a courageous loss to IBO middleweight champion Peter Manfredo, will challenge the always rugged Ghana born Osumanu Adama (17-2, 13 KOs) in the main event for the IBO International title at the UIC Pavilion in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

Also former world champion Arthur Williams (47-16-1, 30 KOs) and Carl Davis (14-3, 11 KOs) will scrap for USBO honors in a ten-round cruiserweight match.

Perennial welterweight contender David Estrada (24-6, 15 KOs) will see action. Tickets, starting at $31, are now on sale for the 8 Count Productions and CFC Promotions event.

Hollywood Casino in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and promoter Leslie Bonano of Brawlin’ in N’awlins have teamed up to produce a fight card scheduled for January 22. The main event will feature two-time world title challenger Will “Kid Fire” McIntyre (40-4-1) against Blake “Candyman” Prevost (15-2). Heavyweight Bobby O’Bannon (8-3) will slug it out John Brown (7-3) in a six-rounder in the co-feature. Tickets are $20, $50 and $100. Call 1-800-229-2683.

Former two time world title challenger Daniel “The Rock” Dawson (35-3, 24 KOs) got back on the winners list with an impressive points victory over American Jason LeHoullier (21-5-1) on the “Western Alliance III” card at the Italian Club in Perth Western Australia tonight. Dawson speed was too much for LeHoullier and had him badly hurt in round two as he went on his way to a comfortable points decision. Judges scored the eight-round fight 80-72, 79-73 and 80-72.

They said it had the potential to be fight of the year and it delivered with action, drama and just about everything you need to make a big fight.

In an all-action war, Amir Khan showed that he had heart, a chin and enough in the reserve to pull out a difficult and hard fought unanimous decision victory over the heavy-handed Marcos Maidana . . . Click here for more

Following months of one-sided trash talking and an entire season of The Ultimate Fighter, the largest crowd in UFC history filled the Bell Centre in Montreal watch its favorite son defend his world welterweight title against his vocal arch nemesis. Koscheck, who has been anything but quiet about his use of verbal jabs to mentally break his opponent, was certainly in enemy territory when he walked to the Octagon Saturday night . . . Click here for more

If Amir Khan had anything he wanted to get off his chest during his abbreviated appearance at last night’s postfight press conference, it was being able to say I-told-you-so to critics who’d lambasted him for a lack of chin.

Though his face told a different story – the plot would have to include a meat grinder and a Mack truck – Khan’s moral victory over a naysaying press just might be a bigger win than his 12-round tussle with Argentinean slugger Marcos Maidana . . . Click here for more

After an action-packed doubleheader, Joseph King Kong Agbeko and Abner Mares emerge as the finalists in The Bantamweight Tournament: Winner Takes All on SHOWTIME®. In a rematch of their Halloween 2009 meeting, Agbeko reclaimed the IBF bantamweight world championship he lost from Yonnhy “El Colombiano” Perez via unanimous decision with an equal parts aggressive and calculated performance. Mares won a gritty split decision over the veteran Vic “Raging Bull” Darchinyan in a fight that thrilled fans in attendance at Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Wash. (more…)

IBF #7 bantamweight Thantong Kiattaweesuk (20-0, 14 KOs) will return to ring action on Friday when he will clash with Nick Otieno (21-5, 9 KOs) of Kenya over twelve rounds in Ratchaburi, Thailand. Kiatttaweesuk, 32 years is a former national amateur champion and has represented Thailand in several countries around the world. Promoter Jimmy Chaichotchuang said he is expecting a tough fight from the Kenyan boxer, “Otieno has a very good record and has beaten world rated Rexon Flores by knockout in eight rounds but he lost to the world class Russian Alexander Bakhtin on points in 2010.” (more…)

In the main event of UFC 124, world welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre soundly defeated challenger Josh Koscheck via a dominant unanimous decision. In the first round, St. Pierre kept his opponent at bay with a devastatingly effective jab, and right hands from the champion hurt the challenger on numerous occasions. The champion continued his straight-punch onslaught throughout the second and the right eye of Koscheck swelled shut quickly. In round three and four the peppering continued and the fight rarely went to the mat. The final round saw St. Pierre score a takedown and hammer Koscheck repeatedly with left hooks and jabs. All three judges scored the bout the same, 50-45 in favor the champion. (more…)

WBA super lightweight champion Amir Khan (24-1, 17 KOs) won a twelve round firefight against WBA interim super lightweight titleholder Marcos Maidana (29-2, 27 KOs) on Saturday night at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. It looked like an early night when Khan dropped Maidana with two hellacious body shots at the end of round one. Khan punished Maidana further in round two, but the rock hard Maidana kept coming. Maidana was the aggressor in round three applying heavy pressure. Maidana was deducted a point by referee Joe Cortez for throwing an elbow in round five. Maidana was relentless and found a home for his uppercut in round seven. Khan rallied in the eighth as his speed and ring movement allowed him to avoid exchanges. Maidana got to Khan in the tenth and battered him all over the ring. It was a battle of attrition in the eleventh with fighters both having their moments. Maidana desperately went for the knockout in round twelve, but Khan weathered the storm. Scores were 114-111, 114-111, and 113-112.

In a clash of super lightweight contenders, WBA #1/WBC #5/IBF #3/WBO #1 Victor Ortiz (28-2-2, 22 KOs) and WBA #4/IBF #6/WBO #9 Lamont Peterson (28-1-1, 14 KOs) battled to a ten round majority draw. The stronger Ortiz was the aggressor while the quicker Peterson boxed beautifully from the outside. Ortiz was credited with two knockdowns in round three, but in the end scores were 94-94, 94-94 and 95-93 Peterson. (more…)

In the opening stage one semi-final, world-ranked Abner Mares (20-0-1, 13 KOs) won a split decision over two-time division titlist Vic Darchinyan (35-3-1, 27 KOs) in an all-action fight for the WBC Silver belt. Mares was cut on the hairline over the left eye by an unintentional headbutt in round one in a good action round. Darchinyan dropped Mares in round two with a straight left. Mares face was a bloody mess after round three. Mares was deducted a point for a low blow in round four. Mares started to get to Darchinyan in the sixth, but Darchinyan responded. Mares knocked down an off-balance Darchinyan in round seven. Mares came on strong late as Darchinyan faded, although the last round was close. Scores were 115-112, 115-111 Mares, 115-111 for Darchinyan.

In the second semi-final, former IBF bantamweight champion Joseph “King Kong” Agbeko (28-2, 22 KOs) regained the IBF belt from the the fighter who dethroned him, the previously unbeaten Yonnhy Perez (20-1-1, 14 KOs). The bout was a war with both fighters taking turns landing bombs throughout but Agbeko wasn’t to be denied as his right hand crashed home again and again. Scores were 116-112, 117-111, 115-113. (more…)